Hi Carrie and Olivia! Can you introduce yourselves to our readers and tell everyone a bit more about who you are?
Kia ora! We are Carrie Rudzinski and Olivia Hall, also known as How We Survive Productions. We started collaborating eight years ago and collectively have 29 years of experience in poetry performance between us. Together, we've written three successful poetry theatre shows, delivered hundreds of performances and workshops teaching poetry and performance to students and adults, and have published two poetry collections to accompany our first two shows.
What inspired you to create Hysterical, your upcoming show at Q Theatre?
We believe the personal is political and the political is personal. There are 18 poems in Hysterical and every one of them is rooted in our real experience as women, activists and humans. When we set out to write this show, we were intentional about the themes and ideas we wanted to explore and unpack - starting with the notion that women are too emotional to be taken seriously.
How do you find spoken word poetry helps deliver your message compared to say, traditional theatre?
What we love about performance poetry is that we get to blend both our writing and performance skills so seamlessly, which allows us to play with humour, anger, passion and persona.
Throughout the show, we have solo poems, where only one of us speaks, and multi-voiced poems, which allow us to each speak to our lived experiences as well as our collective reflections on those experiences. Because our work is autobiographical, the delivery of each poem is incredibly authentic and emotional.
Can you tell us a bit about your creative process?
Our process begins with a development period, where we work to flesh out ideas, spend time freewriting on our collaborative topics, and then hone in on writing one multi-voice poem at a time. A single poem can take anywhere from hours to months to craft! Once we get to a final group of poems that will comprise the show, we work extensively on the order and the journey the audience will go on emotionally. As we step into the world of building, we start working on the dramaturgy of the show - dialogue threading between poems, lighting and sound design, set design, and staging. And then finally, we spend hundreds of hours rehearsing to get that perfect unison we've become famous for.
You've had some wonderful feedback on the show so far! How do you navigate the balance of making a statement around social issues within an engaging, entertaining piece of poetry theatre?
We confront social issues in our work because it's necessary to who we are as artists: to write about what is happening to us, the people we care about, and the world around us.
Our aim for Hysterical is to call people into the conversation, rather than calling people out.
We want our audiences to feel seen in our work and also to question what's happening, spark conversations, and dig in.
And are there any key themes within these issues that you highlight within your work?
A central thread within Hysterical is around bodies. What it feels like to exist in our bodies as women, the way autonomy has been taken away from bodies by governments and systems, and how joy is experienced in the reclamation of bodies. The work is also really grounded in embracing emotion - giving permission for both ourselves and our audiences to truly feel whatever they feel during their time with us. We want to confront and undo the idea that women are too emotional.
On the topic of emotions, what sort of feelings do you think audiences may experience?
We encourage our audiences to lean into their feelings right at the top of the show - and we know that they often laugh and cry while experiencing the performance with us. Having performed Hysterical over 60 times now, we're familiar with the safe space that we create with our audiences. We typically spend about an hour speaking to people after the show to hear their thoughts, share hugs, and unpack what they've heard. We hope to inspire people to feel deeply, to question the systematic sexism we exist in, and to celebrate the love and friendships in their lives.
And lastly, who do you think needs to come see Hysterical?
We truly believe there is something in this show for everyone. Bring your colleagues for an end of year celebration. Bring your best friend so you can have dinner afterwards and dissect every minute of it. Bring the person you've just started dating to check the vibes. Bring your grandma because she loves spending time with you. What a beautiful audience that would be.
Hysterical will take place in Q Loft on 15 - 16 November. Click here to book your tickets!
